I have a long term goal to move into H&S consultancy and advisory services in the agricultural industry and was wondering if anyone has any tip on how to move from a world of H&S management to consultancy?

I currently work as a H&S manager, have just completed my NEBOSH diploma, am upgrading to grad IOSH with the view to achieving CMIOSH. My background was not H&S initially but in engineering and then I moved to H&S. I tend towards a no-nonsense approach to H&S (no excessive paper chasing and clear decisions with strong reasoning developed with the support of the workers involved)
and love to work with people to help them understand their H&S concerns, risks, liabilities and how to control risk and protect workers without it becoming a hindrance to the operation of the farm.

I have close connections with the agricultural industry, and spend a lot of my free time hands working in a farm environment (being married to a farmer it's hard not to) so already have a good understanding of the sort of service level that this industry would welcome and some route to networking and advertising in my chosen location.

Obviously this would be a big step to take so I want to prepare properly and get it right, so if anyone has any good tips from experience of moving into consultancy then I would be grateful to hear them.

Hi KieranD - many thanks for that.

I have been aware of those guys for a little while, they popped up in an issue of Farmers weekly. I've already opened up the communication line with them (lets see what comes of it, trying not to get my hopes up but any step towards the goal is a good one) so it's good to have them reccomended by someone else.

Thanks :)

Hi Katalyah,
Speaking as a freelance consultant (for my sins!) I'd make the following general comments:

a) Times are hard and there are many consultants all chasing the same clients - so it can be something of a cut-throat business to work in

b) You need to have some special skills/ abilities to offer which will set you apart from the other consultants (your competitors). You mention that your interest is agricultural safety and you're married to a farmer, so that certainly gives you credibility in a specialised area. (I almost said "field" ....)

c) There is a lot to be said for working in collaboration with other consultancies. For example, I'm dual qualified in both h&s and in accredited training and so I've built a niche practice as a "trainer for hire". My client companies go through the hassle of selling the courses, and then I turn up and deliver them. It's a great system for me because I'm terrible at sales and marketing but I love training

d) One of the biggest shocks in going freelance is the realisation that the "salary fairy" doesn't come every month! If you can put a toe in the water, as it were, while still receiving a salary then that's an ideal approach. After all, you might find you don't actually like working freelance :0(

e) Once you've taken care of the legals (such as professional indemnity insurance) I'd also speak to your bank manager about the prudence of having a separate bank account for the business so you can readily identify and track consultancy income and expenditure. That'll keep the taxman happy!

To the extent that you may want some inspiration about selling professional services, 'The Trusted Adviser' D Maister, C Green and R Galford, The Free Press, 2000 is commonly regarded as setting the bar for high quality consulting across all business sectors. Maister started as a statistical and logistics consultant in the transport industry before he came to be recognised by leading legal and accounting consultancies as the 'go to' consultant about professional services. Green was European Director of Deloittes before setting up his own practice. And Galford is a business-savvy lawyer or 'advocate' as they call themselves across the Atlantic.

The American Society of Safety Engineers has a specialist group on consulting with a savvy newsletter for members.

Katalyan

The leadership of The Safety Revolution offer very practical examples of uncustomary enterprise, in several ways.

These include:
1. tying a client into a three-year contract for safety as an integral part of business development
2. providing a HR service in tandem with safety - as they are both concerned with the motivation, direction and behaviour of employees and workers
3. using a self-employed HR specialist who appears on the Safety Revolution website to be an employee
4. video interviews with pleased customers
5. selecting a very well-defined geographical area, which permits regular personal contact with customer
6. engaging with relevant mass and social media skilfully

As none of these methods of customer service are very expensive, perhaps there are no real barriers to your own adoption of them too?